(a) the funds demanded by the States under the scheme of pre-matric scholarship for OBC students and the amount actually released by the Government during each of the last three years and the current year, State-wise including Kerala;
(b) the reasons for the disparity in the funds demanded by the States and released by the Government; and
(c) the measures proposed to be taken by the Government to address the problem of shortage of funds under the scheme?
MINISTER OF STATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT
(SHRI KRISHAN PAL GURJAR)
(a): The details of the funds demanded by the States/UTs and the amount released by the Government, State-wise including Kerala, under the scheme of pre-matric scholarship for OBC students during last three years and the current year is given at Annexure.
(b) & (c): Pre-matric scholarship for OBC students is a funds-limited scheme. The Government of India provides funds to States based on their total population since authentic OBC population data is not available as of now. Since 2008-09, National Allocation (NA) under the scheme is being conveyed to the States having OBC population, at the beginning of each financial year in proportion to their total population as per the Census and the States are requested to send their proposals within the NA.
Funds are released to State Governments depending primarily on their NA and they are expected to meet any additional requirement out of their own resources. In case, some savings are available in the Ministry towards the end of the financial year, additional amounts are also released to those States projecting higher demand than their Notional Allocation.